City Clerk Donesia Gause-Aldana, who is running unopposed, participates in a Carson City Council candidate forum at the Doubletree Hotel in Carson on Thursday, October 18, 2018.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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Elito Santarina participates in a Carson City Council candidate forum at the Doubletree Hotel in Carson on Thursday, October 18, 2018.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Elito Santarina participates in a Carson City Council candidate forum at the Doubletree Hotel in Carson on Thursday, October 18, 2018.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Sharma Henderson, a 12-year resident of the community, said Carson is “a college town, but we don’t act like it” and said local government and business representatives need to work together.

“A lot of us in this room, we watch a lot of the council meetings and cringe,” she said, adding that local government needed to be “transparent, open to all, and accountable.”

“Sometimes council meetings are used to manipulate those relationships between the city and business, she added.

Ramona “Mona” Pimentel, a small business owner and chair of the planning commission who just missed out on winning a council seat in the 2016 election, agreed.

“Unfortunately, the city does have a history of not working well with the private sector, being at odds with them,” said Pimental, who suggested the creation of a joint municipal-chamber commission to help improve communication.

“What kind of moratorium is that?” Dear said. “It’s a pay to play moratorium. It’s wrong, it’s bad for business and it’s definitely bad for the citizens of Carson.

“We need to have change,” he added. “We have to put aside this anti-business attitude on the City Council.”

Former Carson planning commissioner Louie Diaz also said the city needs to improve the way it serves businesses.

“Creating a budgeted position to develop a one-stop process for the business community, I think, is essential,” he said.

Lori Noflin, founder of local government watchdog Carson Connected who did not attend last week’s forum, has also criticized the city for “election code violations and voter suppression tactics.”

Osmond “Oz” Buendia, who also did not attend last week’s forum, has previously voiced broader criticism of the city.

“Our neighborhoods are neglected,” he has said. “Our city must fix broken sidewalks, trim overgrown trees, and pave crumbling streets.”

Santarina, one of the incumbents, distanced himself from the scandals that have ensnared some municipal officials in the past, pointing out that he had never been implicated in any “questionable matter that hits Carson once in a while” while touting his track record on “responsible” economic development.

Santarina said he had “secured more restaurants, retail stores, coffee shops and many more amenities than ever before” for the community.

Diaz said the measure should be rejected by voters because it was “fast-tracked” and needs “vast improvement,” with Dear and Henderson also in opposition. Incumbent Davis-Holmes, who did not attend last week’s forum, has previously announced her opposition to the initiative, while Santarina said he supports it.

Also seeking a council seat was Nafis Muhammad, a Stanford University graduate studying public policy and finance at Loyola Marymount University, who at age 18 is the youngest candidate in the race.

He said he will help “build an incident aware community” in cases of public emergency and “increase educational opportunities and occupational experiences.”

Veteran journalist Nick Green is the beat reporter for the cities of Torrance, Carson and Lomita and also covers the South Bay's rapidly growing craft beer industry for the Daily Breeze. He has worked for newspapers on the West Coast since graduating in 1987 from the University of Washington and lives in Old Torrance with his wife and two cats. Follow him on Twitter @NickGreen007 and @BeerGogglesLA.